Cuba on top of the list of Caribbean destinations for Canada, Italy and Spain

Cuba closed the first quarter of the ongoing year as the number-one Caribbean destination among Canadian, Italian and Spanish tourists, and finished a hefty runner-up for German travelers, two positions that make clear the island nation’s coming of age as far as tourism is concerned.

Cuba’s tourism vice minister Marta Maiz said the country continues to go strong and achieving integrality. “(The country) is thoroughly redesigning the concept of the sun-and-beach product because Cuba is a place teeming with culture, history, nature and other attractions that diversify that product and take it up one peg higher.”

During the first quarter of 2003, “we chalked up a 20 percent growth in the number of incoming visitors. Nearly 80 percent of travelers came from the seven top sending markets: Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Mexico,” Mrs. Maiz added.